


12 Days of...

by shieldivarius



Series: Femslash Yuletide 2014 [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Femslash Yuletide, Prompt: 12 Days of...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5409254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieldivarius/pseuds/shieldivarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a small breakthrough in the Advent Gang case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	12 Days of...

**Author's Note:**

> All of the Melinda/Natasha stories in this year's Femslash Yuletide are in the same universe and chronological unless stated otherwise!

The steam coming out of Natasha’s ears was probably visible. 

The digital display in front of her held a bird’s-eye holograph of the city, pins dropped onto it through Manhattan and into Brooklyn—anywhere the Advent Gang had struck. Enough incidents had happened now that a pattern was starting to emerge, if each event was plotted chronologically and connected…

Natasha traced her finger across the points, joining them together like a connect the dot puzzle. At the last point she stepped back and frowned at the incomplete image.

They should've seen something like this coming, and Natasha fumed with the realization. If S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't seemed to have  _shut down_ altogether this year, an analyst would've spotted this by now.

A Christmas tree.

The points plotted out to form the first half of the outline of a Christmas tree.

Which meant...

Natasha made a rough sketch in the air up the other side, then flipped the original points. 

They had approximate targets for the next few attacks, in order.

Natasha glanced at the clock. Late. She'd been going through the data for a while, sifting through everything they knew in the hopes of tying this up sooner rather than later. The chaos had been allowed to go on for too long, already. Six separate incidents, spread out over the course of a week and...

Natasha rolled her eyes.

Six more to come.

Of course.

 

"I think you're offended by the wrong part of this," Melinda said after Natasha had related everything she'd worked out. 

"The 12 days of Christmas aren't meant to be arbitrary days. And they're not before December 25."

"I think it's the symbolism they were going for," Melinda said. 

Natasha's phone gave a series of pings, for the third time that hour. She cringed and stared across the table at it.

"Barton again?" Melinda asked.

Not reaching for the thing, Natasha nodded. "Probably." He'd been trying to fit the Advent Gang's activities into the _Twelve Days of Christmas_ song, and texting her the lyrics when he worked it out. Every line. Every verse.

Melinda laughed and picked up the phone. 

" _On the third day of Christmas,_ " she started, and Natasha grimaced. _"The Advent Gang gave to me: three gifts exploding, two dogs with antlers and a guy with a shrink ray in his belt.”_

The phone pinged twice again while she was reading, and Melinda’s eyes lit up in a way that made Natasha way to smash the phone.

“What now?” she asked.

_“On the fourth day of Christmas—”_

“Skip those parts.”

_“—The Advent Gang gave to me: four poisoned ciders, three gifts exploding, two dogs with antlers and a guy with a shrink ray in his belt.”_

Natasha glared at her, but Melinda kept reading. Every. Line.

 _“On the fifth day of Christmas, the Advent Gang gave to me:_ — this bit’s all in caps,” Melinda added, _“FIVE CROWNS IN CAKES.”_

Natasha let her head sink into her palm, shaking her head slowly and trying not to laugh too hard. 

_“Four poisoned ciders, three gifts exploding, two dogs with antlers and a guy with a shrink ray in his belt.”_

“He’s going to keep going,” Natasha warned. 

“He doesn’t have the rest of the song yet.”

“He’ll reprise the earlier verses,” she said, and snatched her phone from Melinda’s hand. 

_‘Save this crap for the kids,’_ she texted back. _‘Or spam Mel with it.’_

Melinda’s phone started pinging a minute later. 

“Six is nightmares of you stabbing him,” she said.

Natasha snickered.

**Author's Note:**

> http://shieldivarius.tumblr.com


End file.
